Trusting God in all things- Abraham and Isaac

Passages Proverbs 3:5-6, Genesis 22:1–19

Introduction:

Ask: How many of you struggle with trusting other people?

I think the reality is that most of us probably do.

This morning we are continuing through our series on our church covenant and the One another Commands of Scripture and we come to the line that says

“We will faithful trust in God in all things and Obey His commands.”

as a church family we make the commitment to one another to trust in the Lord in all circumstances in our lives.

Today I want us to consider together what it means to truly trust in God in all things.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

In order for us, as Christians, to have a right relationship with God we must trust him in all things.

Simply put you cannot be completely following Jesus if you are still trying to be in control of your life. It just cannot work.

The Bible gives us many stories that exemplify what it looks like for us to trust in God completely with our lives.

This morning I want us to look at the powerful story of Abraham and Isaac through the lens of Proverbs 3:5-6 and see from their example what it looks like for us to trust in God’s Sovereignty and Wisdom in our lives.

Turn with me in your Bibles and listen along as I read Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22:1–19 (ESV)

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven

16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

What A story we have here about trusting In God.

God spoke to Abraham and said I want you to sacrifice your only Son for my Glory

I dont know about you but when it comes to my kids I dont think there is anything I wouldn’t be willing to do to protect them from dying,

and here is Abraham a man who loves and follows God and our passage tells us that God wanted to Test the faith of Abraham so he asked Him to do the hardest thing a dad could ever possibly do and that would be to kill his only Son.

Our first point this morning is that God Asks His followers to

II. Trust God Completely

Abraham faced a tremendous test of faith when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. .

Think about what Abraham must have been thinking at that moment...

Isaac was a miraculous gift from God. He was the fulfillment of a promise that God made Abraham, a promise that through Isaac Abraham’s descendents would be blessed, and now God’s plan seems to contradict God’s Promise.

How often do we find ourselves in this same place, Where God’s plan for our lives doesn’t seem to match up with his promises.

i think it happens often, We know that God promises to do all things for our Good and yet, many times the trials we go through dont seem like they are for our good.

Look at the example of Abraham.....

Abraham’s faith was so strong that verse 3 tells us that Early the next Morning He rose and Obeyed the command.

His trust in the Lord was greater than His love for His only son.

Abraham didn’t hesitate, He simply followed What God asked Him to do.

Despite the difficulty and conflict within his heart, Abraham chose to trust in God completely, surrendering his own understanding and desires to God's will.

The Hebrew word for trust used in Proverbs3 :5 is batach ,

This word means to have complete confidence in something, to be bold in your assurance that with it you are completely secure.

Abraham had complete assurance that God would only do what was best for his life.

He was confident that God’s plan was better than his own understanding.

B. How do we Trust God today with all our hearts?:

The same way Abraham did in his heart. It hasn’t changed-

To trust in the Lord today means that you cling to the promises HE makes you in Scripture.

Promises to never leave you

promises to never forsake you

Promises to Forgive you,

Promises to Bless you

promises to never let you be tempted more than you can handle.

Promises to do all things for your good and for his glory.

trusting God means that we live our lives beleiving God will always do what God promises to do, no matter how difficult our lives may seem to be around us.

Proverbs 3: 5 tells us it’s not just about trusting God to do what God says he will do, but it is also about us not relying on our own ability as a safety net incase God’s plan doesn't seem to work out the way we think it should.

ILLUSTRATION of Trust.. Get two volunteers and have them step up onto the obstacle ( the V- have them put their hands together and begin to walk on the two boards holding each other up as the boards get wider and wider.- See how far the can go without falling

Walk through did they really trust one another or did they trust themselves more

Trusting ourselves means we put most of our weight on our own ability ( haunches back - like a wrestler-) to trust the other person means that you lean on them so completely that if they fail you will fall flat on your face. -

maybe have the kids do it again after you tell them how to trust and keep their hips in and not out...

III. Not Yourself: Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

Look again at Gen 22 and the story of Abraham. verse 3- tells us that immediately he left to follow Gods plan,

He didn't try to figure out God’s plan, he didn't try to find a perfect lamb just in case God needed him to do it, No!

He simply got up and obeyed. He trusted God even when it went against everything He thought was needed to be right.

Understand church, that Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac doesn't say that he didn't care about his son, in fact theBible tells us that He loved his son more than anything.

It simply demonstrated his reliance on God rather than his own knowledge and understanding.

By simple obedience, He acknowledged that his human understanding was limited, and instead of trying to figure out Gods plan, , he placed his faith in God's wisdom and goodness.

Illustration: Think about the boys who were up here earlier- In order to trust in one another they had to go all in, they had to be willing to fall on their face if the other person let them down.

Maybe Illustration of Amy and I moving: I had a financial safety net but God took it away through the house not selling for two years,

Many times we like to say that we are all in when it comes to trusting God but the reality is we look a lot more like the boys did on that beam - We lean in thats true but we put a lot more weight on our own ability to hold us up......

To lean not on your own understanding means that you follow Christ with out any safety net below. You follow hi8m into the storms, You walk with him through he storms, and you trust and wait patiently for his perfect timing to end the storm.

Proverbs 3:6 gives us our third responsibility when it comes to Trusting Jesus

“ In all your ways acknowledge Him-

IV. Acknowledging God in All Your Ways

To acknowledge God does not mean to simply agree that He exist, or even to agree that he is the creator and the savior of the world.

To acknowledge God means that you live your life saturated in His word.

It’s the idea that He is so integrated into your life that there is nothing in your life that he is not centrally part of.

Look at Abraham’s life throughout this journey: Every step he took was all about God.

He didn’t try to understand God’s plan before Obedience vs 3 He rose early to 0bey, without questioning

He didn't try to find a backup plan -vs 4 He took his only son Isaac as the only Sacrifice. no backup lamb - just His Son.

vs 5 He left his servants behind, fulling leaning on God to lead

vs 7 Isaac asks his dad “ dad I see the wood and the fire but where is the lamb” and Abraham responded God will provide

Abraham fully believed Gods plan was best .vs 9 Abraham obediently built the alter and prepared it for the offering. and then he took his son Isaac and bound him up and laid him on the alter in full obedience to God.

and then in vs 10

Abraham raised up the knife to slaughter his Son fully Acknowledging God’s Sovereign plan as best for his life

To acknowledge God in all things means that we live our lives following His plan without question, with out building up safety nets in case Gods plan doesn't work out the way we think is best for our lives..

why was Abraham so willing to Go all in? Because God was already central to his life and there was nothing more important to Abraham than obeying Gods commands.

Church family, this is what it looks like to acknowledge God in all things.

To truly trust in God means that we must acknowledge God in every aspect of our lives.

Your Relationship with God cannot just a Sunday Morning relationship where you go to church and learn more facts about God Jesus and the Bible-

God wants to be your everything, He wants to be first place in your life.

When we have decisions to make at home with our families the first place we should go is to the Lord in Prayer

When we have decisions to make in our work places the first place we should go is to the Lord in Prayer....

When we have decisions to make in our Church the first place we should go is to the Lord in Prayer,

To Acknowledge God in all things Means that we cant even image a life without him in it, because without Him our life would seem over.

Finally our Passage in Proverbs 3 tells us why Trusting in God is so important for our lives.

Listen again to the text....

Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

God Makes Your Path Straight

He shows you which path you are to take!

What was the result in Abraham’s story:

verse 10 tells us that At the very moment Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, God intervened and provided a Substitute ram as the sacrifice.

This divine intervention was God’s plan all along.

God didn't get caught up in the Moment and think “ Oh no I forgot the Lamb” NOOOO

God wanted to do something miraculous in Abraham’s life.

He wanted Abraham to see how much better His sovereign plan is than what Abraham could ever imagine

Think about what a difference this story would have in Abrahams faith If He would not have trusted God and instead tried to lean on his own finite solution for the problem.

He would have missed the whole point.

The point of the story was not the Sacrifice- The point of the story was the innocent Substitute for His condemned son.

God was using Abraham's faith to give mankind a picture of what Jesus the Son of God was going to do for them on that Same hill that Abraham and Isaac once stood.

Mt Moriah is Now now Called My Zion- and this is same mountain where the Temple was built by Solomon- -the Place where God dwelt in Isreal. The same mountain top -where Jesus took our place and paid our debt of sin as our innocent Substitute.

What a special plan God had for us.

Just like Isaac -The Bible tells us that- We are all condemned to Die-

Isaac was bound and laying on that Alter, and Abraham in faith raised up the knife to kill his Son, But at just the right Moment God stepped in and offered an innocent substitute to take His place-

Abrahams Obedience was still required- The sacrifice God commanded Abraham to make was still needed -but God provided a substitute for Isaac - His life was spared.

Folks we are Isaac in this story

The Bible is very clear- We are all condemned to Die. We have a sin debt that requires our life as payment. Not just physically but also spiritually.

We are bound by our sin, We are hopeless in our helplessness,

But then God steps in..

Galatians 4;4 says that At JUST THE RIGHT TIME- GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON....

why? to take our place to pay our debt of sin.

Jesus The Creator of the World, became the perfect lamb- our substitute- He paid the price that our sin demanded - Our chains are set free , All because God the father loved us that much.

You See- God takes us at the moment of Salvation off of the path that only leads to an eternity in Hell,

and He makes our path straight -

Brothers and sisters, Understand this truth - When we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation it puts us on the right Path and then When we follow God’s Sovereign plan instead of our own understanding, it puts him in the drivers seat of our lives.

This means that your life is being led by the creator of the world, the one who loved you enough to redeem you with his own life.

Can you think of any better place to be than in the care of the one who loves you more than anything?

Bring it Home:

Hebrews 11:17–19 (ESV)

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Christians- To live a life that rely’s on God- We must trust Him completely, not relying on our own understanding, We must acknowledge God's importance in every part of our lives, and we must allow Him to guide our paths.

And when we do this , He leads us down the path that is filled with eternal Blessings.

Church family, Are you trusting in God completely or are you still trying to live your life with your own understanding?

Where is it in your life that you are not fully trusting in God? what part of your life are you still trying to control?

Stop leaning on your own understanding and start trusting in God completely.

Pray